iPhone Plus: The Bigger iPhone

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Marco Arment, the creator of Instapaper and The Magazine published an article yesterday about the possibility of Apple releasing a bigger iPhone. His prediction is that Apple wouldn’t replace the current 4″ display iPhone 5, but rather, provide an alternative option for consumers. According to Marco, the iPhone Plus would sport a 640 × 1136 resolution at 264 DPI, and would measure 4.94” diagonally. The iPhone Plus would use iPad Retina screens and keep the iPhone 5 resolution and design.

He argues that by “keeping the pixel dimensions the same as the iPhone 5, no app changes would be necessary.” He goes on to say that, “while the larger screen would hinder one-handed use, two-handed use would actually be easier because the touch targets would all be larger, and UIKit’s standard metrics and controls still work well at that physical size.”

Interesting.

I’m not one who is particular fond of “phablets,” however an iPhone with a 4.94″ display may have some appeal to me, and even if it didn’t, according to Marco I would still be able to go for the 4″ iPhone if my little heart desired. I could live with that. And more importantly, it would help Apple compete with phablets (smartphones with larger screens). Despite what I think of the market, it appears that phablets are selling pretty well, or at least, well enough that Apple should be paying attention to the market for them.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is probably the biggest reason right now that Apple should be considering an iPhone Plus. Apple needs to stay competitive and if consumers are looking for smartphones with bigger screens, then Apple should definitely have one. According to one report, phablet sales will reach 60 million this year (up 136 percent from last year) and up to 160 million by 2016. That’s a lot of phablets.

One last note, phablets are typically considered smartphones with a 5″ display or bigger, so if Apple’s iPhone Plus only had a 4.94″ display, I guess technically it really wouldn’t be a phablet, but I know one thing it would be: competitive.